No source of energy is "safe", i.e. has zero adverse
effects. We are frequently consulted by people who have had their
lives turned upside down by oil spills, some recent, some decades
ago. Often, those spills cannot be fully cleaned up, and can tear
families apart. Coal and nuclear each have devastating problems.
Natural gas, the "transition fossil fuel" seems
comparatively benign. It was therefore a useful to reminder to run
across the
This Week In Natural Gas Leaks and Explosions
and fracking features of the Natural Gas Watch blog.Did you know, for example, that a massive
natural gas explosion the devastated an entire neighbourhood in
San Bruno, California in 2010, killing eight
people and destroying 38 homes? Or that last month an explosion at
a natural gas well in Bolivar, Ohio, killed
19-year-old Paul Sherman? Or that, according to Living on Earth, the carbon footprint of shale
gas may be larger than that of coal?
